George W. Bush - The George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum George W. Bush George W. Bush in the Texas Air National Guard, 1968 - 1973. Courtesy George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum (HS381) George Walker Bush was born July 6, 1946, in New Haven, Connecticut, the first son of future President George Herbert Walker Bush and his wife Barbara (Pierce) Bush. He has five siblings; John (Jeb), Marvin, Neil, and Dorothy (Doro). In 1953, at the age of four, his first sister, Pauline (Robin), died after fighting leukemia. After attending primary schools in Texas, George W. Bush enrolled at Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, from 1961 to 1964. Upon graduation, he studied at Yale University, completing a Bachelor’s degree in history in 1968. After college, Bush enlisted in the Air National Guard, serving in Texas and Alabama until his discharge in November 1974. He completed a Master’s degree in Business Administration from Harvard University in 1975. George W.

and Laura Bush campaigning from the back of a pickup truck for the 1978 Congressional race in West Texas. Courtesy George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum (H22-01) In 1977, George W. Bush met and married Laura Lane Welch, a former teacher and librarian, in Midland, Texas; the couple had twin daughters, Jenna and Barbara, in 1981. Before beginning a career in politics, Bush worked in the Texas oil industry, founding Arbusto Energy in 1977. In 1986, he underwent a recommitment to his Christian faith, which had a profound impact on his life. He moved his family to Washington D.C. in 1988, while serving as a campaign advisor and media liaison with his father’s Presidential campaign. In 1989, he assembled a group of investors that purchased the Texas Rangers baseball team and served as their managing general partner for the next five years. Political President George W. Bush embraces victims of Hurricane Katrina September 2, 2005, during his tour of the Biloxi, Mississippi area. Courtesy George W.

Bush Presidential Library and Museum (P090205ED-0726) In 1978, following his family’s distinguished tradition of public service, George W. Bush made his first run for political office to be U.S. Representative of the 19th District in Texas. He lost that race to Kent Hance. In 1994, Bush once again ran for public office and was elected the 46th Governor of Texas. Governor Bush won re-election in 1998 with nearly 69% of the vote, becoming the first Governor in Texas history to be elected to two consecutive four-year terms. In June 1999, George W. Bush announced his candidacy for the Presidency of the United States. His opponent in the 2000 election was Vice President Albert Gore. Though the Presidential election was held November 7, 2000, the final outcome was not known until December 12, when the Supreme Court decision Bush v. Gore certified Florida’s electoral votes. George W. Bush was inaugurated as the 43rd President of the United States on January 20, 2001. President George W.

Bush places calls to the families of the crew of the space shuttle Columbia, February 1, 2003, from the Oval Office of the White House. Courtesy George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum (P26340-16) Early decisions in the George W. Bush Administration focused on public education. President Bush’s first major initiative, the No Child Left Behind Act of 2002, created reforms that raised standards and improved test scores in the public education system. President Bush increased the size of Pell Grants available to college students to an all-time high and also created the Helping America’s Youth Initiative, led by Mrs. Laura W. Bush, to help adults connect with at-risk children. Economically, President Bush created a tax relief package, which reduced individual income tax rates and doubled the child tax credit, in addition to other reforms. The Bush Presidency was changed with the events of September 11, 2001. In the deadliest attack ever on American soil, terrorists hijacked four airplanes, crashing two into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City and one into the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia.

The fourth plane crashed in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, after its passengers attempted to overtake the hijackers. President George W. Bush meets with troops and serves Thanksgiving Dinner at the Bob Hope Dining Facility, Baghdad International Airport, Iraq, on November 27, 2003. Courtesy George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum (P36047-34) In response to the September 11th terrorist attacks, President Bush declared a War on Terror, which became a wide-ranging assault on terrorists and those entities that support terrorism around the globe. As part of this effort, the War in Afghanistan began in October 2001 and the War in Iraq in March 2003. President Bush initiated a reorganization of the federal government, established the National Counterterrorism Center, the Department of Homeland Security, the Homeland Security Council, and created the position of Director of National Intelligence. The USA Freedom Corps, also created following September 11th, aimed to inspire American citizens to serve humanitarian causes greater than themselves. In the 2004 election, President George W. Bush faced Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts.

President Bush was re-elected for a second term, and inaugurated January 20, 2005. Iraq also held its elections – the first free elections in the country – in January 2005. With Mrs. Laura Bush and guests looking on, President George W. Bush signs a proclamation to create the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Marine National Monument at a ceremony, June 15, 2006, at the White House. Courtesy George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum (P061506ED-0524) During his second administration, President George W. Bush continued the development of humanitarian aid programs including the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and the President’s Malaria Initiative, to assist those suffering around the world. President Bush also led efforts to provide more than $3.3 billion to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria. President and Mrs. Bush worked together to establish the Preserve America Initiative and the National Parks Centennial Initiative, and the President asked Congress to provide more than $6.5 billion to repair and improve the National Park System.

President Bush also designated nearly 195,000 square miles of the central Pacific Ocean as national monuments and preserved an additional 1,000,000 square miles of fish habitats. In January 2007, President Bush announced his plan for a “surge” of United States troops in the Iraq War to combat the insurgency. Following the surge, total violence in Iraq was drastically reduced and the United States established a new embassy in Baghdad in January 2009. Post-Presidential Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton survey damage en route to Palace West Camp during a visit to Haiti on March 22, 2010. Courtesy The Clinton-Bush Haiti Fund On January 20, 2009, George W. Bush returned to Texas as a private citizen. In January 2010, he united with former President Bill Clinton to lead a major fundraising relief effort for the victims of the devastating Haitian earthquake. President Bush’s memoir, Decision Points, was published in November 2010. On April 25, 2013, President and Mrs. Bush dedicated the Presidential Center located on the campus of Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas.

The George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum is housed inside the Center and it is administered by the National Archives. Five living Presidents and First Ladies attended the Dedication Ceremony. In addition, President Bush remains actively involved in issues of national and global concern through the George W. Bush Institute, a policy institute that is part of the Center and operated by the George W. Bush Foundation. He continues to emphasize education, global health, human freedom, and support of the military. More Information George W. Bush - U.S. Presidents - HISTORY.com Google George W. Bush: Education, Family and Early Political Career Bush, the oldest of six children of George H.W. Bush (1924-) and Dorothy Pierce Bush (1925-), was born on July 6, 1946, in New Haven Connecticut , when his father, a former World War II naval aviator, was a student at Yale University. He was raised in Texas , where the senior Bush was an executive in the oil industry, and attended high school at Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts . Bush went on to Yale, the alma mater of his father and grandfather, Prescott Bush (1985-1972), a banker and U.S.

senator, and earned a degree in history in 1968. Did You Know? Bush was the first son of a president to become president since John Quincy Adams. That same year, with America fighting the Vietnam War (1954-75), Bush was accepted into the Texas Air National Guard. He trained to become a pilot and completed his active-duty service in 1970. In 1973, he entered Harvard Business School, and received an MBA in 1975. Bush then returned to Texas to work in the oil and gas industry and eventually started his own exploration company. On November 5, 1977, he married Laura Welch (1946-), a librarian and school teacher. The couple had twin daughters, Jenna and Barbara, in 1981. In 1978, Bush ran for the U.S. House of Representatives from Texas but lost to his Democratic opponent in the general election. Afterward, he returned to his oil business, which he sold in 1986.

Bush moved to Washington , D.C., to work on his father’s successful 1988 presidential campaign, and the following year became an investor in the Texas Rangers baseball team (he sold his ownership stake in 1998 for $15 million). In 1994, Bush defeated Democratic incumbent Ann Richards to become governor of Texas. He was re-elected four years later. In the summer of 1999, Bush announced his candidacy for president, and campaigned as a “compassionate conservative.” George W. Bush: 2000 Presidential Election In the 2000 election, Bush and running mate Dick Cheney (1941-), a former congressman and U.S. defense secretary under George H.W. Bush, defeated Vice President Al Gore (1948-) and his running mate, U.S. Senator Joe Lieberman (1942-) of Connecticut, by a margin of 271-266 electoral votes, though Gore won the popular vote by 48.4 percent to Bush’s 47.9 percent. The 2000 election was the fourth election in U.S.

history in which the winner of the electoral votes did not carry the popular vote. George W. Bush: First Presidential Term: 2001-2005 Bush’s first term in the White House was dominated by the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks against America, in which nearly 3,000 people were killed, and their aftermath. The following month, in response to the attacks, the United States invaded Afghanistan in an attempt to overthrow the Taliban government, which was suspected of harboring Osama Bin Laden (1957-2011), leader of Al-Qaeda, the organization responsible for the 9/11 attacks. The Taliban regime was quickly toppled; however, Bin Laden was not captured for another decade. With the goal of protecting the United States from future terrorist attacks, Bush also signed the Patriot Act into law created the Cabinet-level Department of Homeland Security, which was officially established in November 2002.

Then, in the spring of 2003, the United States invaded Iraq in order to overthrow leader Sadaam Hussein (1937-2006), whose regime was accused of supporting international terrorist groups and possessing large caches of weapons of mass destruction (WMD). In December 2003, U.S. forces captured Hussein (who was later executed by Iraqi officials); however, no WMDs were ever discovered. Also in his first term, Bush won Congressional approval of widespread tax-cut bills and the Medicare prescription drug coverage program for seniors; signed the No Child Left Behind Act into law; allocated billions of dollars to fight HIV/AIDS around the world; created the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, and withdrew America’s support of the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, which was signed by President Bill Clinton and was intended to combat worldwide global warming (Bush said he was concerned that the international agreement’s requirements would hurt the U.S. economy). Bush ran for re-election in 2004 and defeated Democratic challenger John Kerry (1943-), a U.S.

senator from Massachusetts, by a margin of 286-251 electoral votes and with 50.7 percent of the popular vote to Kerry’s 48.3 percent George W. Bush: Second Presidential Term: 2005-2009 Bush enjoyed strong public approval ratings throughout much of his first term; however, during his second term his popularity plummeted. Critics said Bush had used misleading claims about Iraq’s WMDs as a justification for the invasion of that Middle Eastern nation. Additionally, after Hurricane Katrina devastated America’s Gulf Coast region in August 2005, resulting in some 1,800 deaths and billions of dollars in damages, the Bush administration was widely criticized for its slow response to the disaster. A troubled economy also contributed to Americans’ dissatisfaction with Bush. He began his presidency with a federal budget surplus; however, factors such as the enormous cost of fighting two wars and the broad tax cuts led to annual budget deficits starting in 2002. Then, in 2008, with America experiencing its worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, Congress passed a series of controversial Bush administration-sponsored plans to bail out the financial industry with hundreds of billions in federal funds.

Bush also lobbied unsuccessfully for a plan to replace Social Security with private retirement savings accounts. Throughout his terms, Bush rarely wavered from his stance as a social conservative. He made two nominations to the U.S. Supreme Court, both in 2005: Chief Justice John Roberts (1955-) and Samuel Alito (1950-), both regarded as judicial conservatives. George W. Bush: Post-Presidency Following the January 2009 presidential inauguration of Barack Obama (1961-), Bush left office as a polarizing figure. He and first lady Laura Bush returned to Texas, where they divided their time between homes in Dallas and Crawford. In 2010, Bush released a memoir, “Decision Points,” in 2010, but otherwise maintained a low national profile. Access hundreds of hours of historical video, commercial free, with HISTORY Vault . Start your free trial today.

Tags BBC ON THIS DAY | 3 | 2004: George W Bush wins second term About This Site | Text Only 2004: George W Bush wins second term George W Bush has won a second term as president of the United States, beating his Democratic rival, John Kerry, by a comfortable margin. Mr Bush won about 51% of the vote and at least 274 electoral college votes against John Kerry's 48% and 252 votes. Results are still awaited in New Mexico and Iowa but they cannot affect the outcome. Mr Bush's victory was announced after Mr Kerry phoned him at the White House to admit defeat. In a four-minute conversation, Mr Kerry congratulated the president, while Mr Bush called the Democrat "an admirable, worthy opponent". Strong mandate In his victory speech, Mr Bush said, "I am proud to lead such an amazing country and I am proud to lead it forward." He said tax reform, social security and education would be priorities for his second four-year term. He also said the US would "help the emerging democracies of Afghanistan and Iraq to grow in strength and freedom".

The result means Mr Bush has a stronger mandate than four years ago, when he won only after a 36-day legal battle over a recount in Florida. Florida has used electronic voting machines this year to replace the punch cards which created so many problems in the last poll. The media has also been noticeably more cautious in their reporting of results across the country, with CBS presenter Dan Rather saying at one stage, "I would rather be last than wrong." Close contest The contest was again extremely close throughout, with both men neck-and-neck in opinion polls right until voting ended. After early victories by Mr Kerry in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, Mr Bush began winning state after state. The key state of Ohio declared for the president early this morning. National security and the war in Iraq have dominated the campaign, with the economy largely taking second place. World leaders congratulated Mr Bush on his victory, although some warned of the major challenges facing him in the Middle East. British Prime Minister Tony Blair said he looked forward to continuing his strong relationship with George Bush. But, he added, "The need to revitalise the Middle East peace process is the single most pressing political challenge in our world today." George W. Bush | whitehouse.gov Air Force One George W. Bush George W.

Bush, America's 43rd President (2001-2009), was transformed into a wartime President in the aftermath of the airborne terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, facing the "greatest challenge of any President since Abraham Lincoln." The airborne terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and the thwarted flight against the White House or Capitol on September 11, 2001, in which nearly 3,000 Americans were killed, transformed George W. Bush into a wartime president. The attacks put on hold many of Bush’s hopes and plans, and Bush’s father, George Bush, the 41st president , declared that his son “faced the greatest challenge of any president since Abraham Lincoln.” In response, Bush formed a new cabinet-level Department of Homeland Security, sent American forces into Afghanistan to break up the Taliban, a movement under Osama bin Laden that trained financed and exported terrorist teams. The Taliban was successfully disrupted but Bin Laden was not captured and was still on the loose as Bush began his second term.

Following the attacks, the president also recast the nation’s intelligence gathering and analysis services, and ordered reform of the military forces to meet the new enemy. At the same time he delivered major tax cuts which had been a campaign pledge. His most controversial act was the invasion of Iraq on the belief that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein posed a grave threat to the United States. Saddam was captured, but the disruption of Iraq and the killing of American servicemen and friendly Iraqis by insurgents became the challenge of Bush’s government as he began his second term. President Bush pledged during his 2005 State of the Union Address that the United States would help the Iraqi people establish a fully democratic government because the victory of freedom in Iraq would strengthen a new ally in the war on terror, bring hope to a troubled region, and lift a threat from the lives of future generations. Bush was born in New Haven, Connecticut while his father was attending Yale University after service in World War II. The family moved to Midland, Texas, where the senior Bush entered the oil exploration business. The son spent formative years there, attended Midland public schools, and formed friendships that stayed with him into the White House.

Bush graduated from Yale, received a business degree from Harvard, and then returned to Midland where he too got into the oil business. In Midland he met and married Laura Welch, a teacher and librarian. They had twin daughters, Jenna and Barbara, now out of college and pursuing careers. When George W. Bush, at the age of 54, became the 43rd president of the United States, it was only the second time in American history that a president’s son went on to the White House. John Quincy Adams, elected the sixth president in 1824, was the son of John Adams, the second president. While John Adams had groomed his son to be president, George Bush, the 41st president, insisted he was surprised when the eldest of his six children became interested in politics, became governor of Texas, and then went on to the White House. During the early part of the 2000 campaign for the White House, Bush enjoyed a double-digit lead in the polls over his opponent Vice President Al Gore Jr.

But the gap closed as the election approached and though Gore finally won the popular vote by 543,895 votes, victory or loss of the presidency hinged on Florida’s electoral votes. That struggle through recounts and lawsuits worked its way to the Supreme Court. In the end Bush won the electoral count 271 to 266. His new administration was focused on “compassionate conservatism,” which embraced excellence in education, tax relief and volunteerism among faith-based and community organizations. Bush was challenged in his re-election bid in 2004 by Massachusetts Democratic Senator John Kerry. The election was a good contest, but Bush’s contention that the invasion of Iraq had made the world more secure against terrorism won the national political debate. Bush was re-elected with 51 percent to 48 percent. On the inaugural stand, George W. Bush set the theme for his second term: “At this second gathering, our duties are defined not by the words I use, but by the history we have seen together. For half a century, America defended our own freedom by standing watch on distant borders. After the shipwreck of communism came years of relative quiet- and then there came a day of fire.

There is only one force of history that can break the reign of hatred and resentment, and expose the pretensions of tyrants, and reward the hopes of the decent and tolerant, and that is the force of human freedom – tested but not weary… we are ready for the greatest achievements in the history of freedom.” The Presidential biographies on WhiteHouse.gov are from “The Presidents of the United States of America,” by Frank Freidel and Hugh Sidey. Copyright 2006 by the White House Historical Association. Learn more about George W. Bush 's spouse, Laura Welch Bush . Did you know? In 2002, President George W. Bush’s State of the Union was the first to be live broadcast on the Internet. In 2011 and 2012, President Obama’s State of the Union speeches were available in an enhanced live stream versi on that featured infographics, charts and data side-by-side in real time with the President’s speech. In 2009, former President Bush partnered with 42nd President Clinton to help rebuild Haiti , after the country was devastated by an earthquake.

CNN.com Specials Aiming for a second term (CNN) -- President Bush entered the White House in the wake of the bitterly contested 2000 election but he heads into the 2004 campaign a markedly different candidate. Instead of being a governor untested in national politics, Bush is an incumbent president who led the nation through the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, and two subsequent wars. He also can claim domestic success with the passage of two tax cuts in two years and a version of his education plan. But after watching the elder Bush's 1992 re-election bid fail despite a post-1991 Gulf War approval rating above 90 percent, Bush and his Democratic challengers know a second term in the White House is never guaranteed. In his 2000 campaign book, "A Charge To Keep," Bush made it clear that he did not intend to be a one-term president like his father. "I learned a great deal from my dad's presidency and campaigns," he wrote.

"I learned you must spend political capital to earn it, or it withers and dies." An above-the-fray campaign Bush took the first formal step in his re-election bid in May 2003 by filing with the Federal Election Commission, a move that allows him to start building his campaign structure and raising funds. His campaign raised more than $34 million in the second quarter, which is more than the combined total raised by his potential Democratic opponents in the same time period. For months, Bush tried to remain above the political fray, enjoy the benefits of being an uncontested incumbent and wait to formally declare his candidacy. Politics, Bush said at a news conference in July 2003, will come "later on." For now, "I will continue doing my job. And my job will be to work to make America more secure." While Bush has mentioned national security as a priority in his re-election bid, he also has acknowledged that the economy needs attention. "The American people will decide whether or not I deserve a second term," Bush told reporters in May 2003. "In the meantime I am focusing my attention today on ... helping people find work.

And that's where I'm going to be for a while." Private-sector payrolls, measured on a year-over-year basis, fell for 20 months, the longest labor-market slump since World War II. The unemployment rate rose from 4 percent in 2000 when Bush took office to 6.2 percent in July 2003, the highest in nearly a decade. The numbers of jobless could make Bush potentially vulnerable on the economy, the same issue that helped then-Gov. Bill Clinton defeat his father. Democrats in Congress have blamed rising deficits on Bush's tax cuts. The $455 billion deficit in 2003 was a record in sheer dollar terms, though not as a percentage of the overall economy. But the president has insisted that the war on terrorism and Homeland Security needs, along with overspending by Congress, also have fueled the deficit. Although he generally avoided talk of the 2004 election, Bush occassionally did show that he was focused on the race well before his campaign aired its first ads after Sen. John Kerry wrapped up the Democratic nomination in March.

While vacationing at his Texas ranch in August 2003, Bush appeared irritated during a news conference by a reporter's suggestion that the California recall election was "the biggest political story in the country." "Isn't there, like, a presidential race coming up?" he said. The road to the presidency For Bush, the road to the White House began in his adopted home state of Texas. Born in Connecticut, the oldest of four siblings, Bush moved to Texas with his family when he was two. His first bid for office was a congressional race in 1978. He lost to the incumbent. He returned to his oil businesses, but then the price of oil bottomed out in the early 1980s. Bush's company was rescued from financial ruin twice by mergers, the second time in 1986 by Harken Oil and Gas. The deal allowed Harken to purchase a company with some potential at a good price, plus put the son of the vice president on its board of directors. After helping with his father's 1988 presidential campaign, Bush returned to Texas.

In March 1989, he became part owner of the Texas Rangers, buying a 2 percent share for $600,000 in borrowed money. He became the managing general partner, the front man for the team. In 1994, he returned to politics, running for Texas governor against incumbent Ann Richards. She had memorably criticized his father at the 1992 Democratic National Convention with this line: "Poor old George. He can't help it. He was born with a silver foot in his mouth." With his father's help, Bush raised more money than any candidate for any office in Texas history. He ran on a four-point program: education, juvenile justice, tort reform and welfare reform. Other items on the Bush agenda passed the conservative litmus test: making it legal to carry concealed weapons, supporting laws against sodomy and backing the death penalty. Bush defeated Richards, a victory that coincided with the Republican takeover of Congress. He acted on all of his four campaign promises during his first term and when he won re-election in 1998 with 68 percent of the vote, talk of a run for the presidency was constant.

His baseball investment also paid off handsomely about that time. He placed his interest in the team in a trust during his first gubernatorial term. In 1998, Bush and his fellow partners sold the team, with Bush netting more than $14 million. Billing himself as a "compassionate conservative," Bush entered the presidential race in 1999, emphasizing tax cuts and changes in federal education policy. But a message wasn't the only thing Bush brought into the race. He had a record $70 million in the bank before the first primary. Due to his prodigious fund-raising, Bush declined federal matching funds during the primary season -- a move which exempted him from spending limits imposed on candidates who accept matching funds. His fund-raising advantage caused several of his opponents to drop out before the first primary. He eventually raised a record-setting $193 million by the end of the campaign, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Arizona Sen. John McCain provided a fierce primary challenge in early 2000, but withdrew two days after a disappointing performance in the key March 7 primaries.

Bush faced then-Vice President Al Gore in the general election, and the race went down the wire on Election Day, with Florida hanging in the balance. After 36 contentious days of vote recounting and legal maneuvering in Florida, Bush won a 5-4 U.S. Supreme Court decision that ended the recount ordered by the Florida Supreme Court. The decision effectively made him the president-elect. The second Bush administration Once in office, Bush put aside the Florida controversy and pushed for the passage of his tax cut bill and education plan. He signed into law modified versions of both. On foreign policy, he pursued a markedly different approach from his predecessor, staying out of the Middle East and rejecting a series of international agreements. Bush pulled out of the Kyoto global-warming treaty, a biological weapons agreement, the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty and the International Criminal Court, and he withdrew the United States from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, a cornerstone of Cold War foreign policy. Then the September 11 attacks transformed Bush's presidency.

Both Democrats and Republicans praised Bush for his handling of the events and he made a well-received speech to Congress, notable for this blunt line: "Whether we bring our enemies to justice or bring justice to our enemies, justice will be done." In 2002, Bush delivered his famous "axis of evil" speech, in which he labeled Iraq, Iran and North Korea as threats to the United States and the world. He lay to rest the Cold War doctrine of containment, replacing it with a new national security strategy of pre-emption, which holds that the United States must not let its enemies strike first. "After September 11, the doctrine of containment just doesn't hold any water, as far as I'm concerned," he said. "We must deal with threats before they hurt the American people again." As 2002 ended, Bush appeared ready to test his new doctrine in Iraq. Despite the lack of international and U.N. support (but with the backing of Congress and a majority of the U.S. public), Bush launched a U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003. Having seized control of Baghdad in April 2003, Bush declared an end to major combat in early May.

Yet as U.S. military personnel continue to die in Iraq and the cost of the rebuilding continues to escalate, Bush's challengers and critics have attempted to make Bush's handling of the war a campaign issue. George W. Bush: Campaigns and Elections—Miller Center About the Administration Presidential Campaign of 2000 After Bush won reelection as governor of Texas in 1998 with a resounding victory, many national political figures urged him to run for the presidency. On the morning of his second inauguration as governor of Texas, Bush told his mother that he was still struggling with the decision. She was not sympathetic, suggesting that her son should simply decide. The church sermon that day described the calling of Moses by God to lead his people from Egypt. During the service, Bush’s mother leaned toward him and said, “He is talking to you.” The sermon concluded with a message about the opportunity that each individual has to find his calling. Bush felt a calm confidence that he was meant to run for President and authorized Karl Rove to begin preparing for a national campaign. National name recognition, family connections, and fundraising ability made Bush a strong presidential candidate. During the Iowa caucuses, however, his campaign hit some rough spots.

When he was asked which political philosopher he most identified with, Bush replied, “Christ, because He changed my heart.” The answer caused consternation in the national press but seemed to play well in Iowa, especially among evangelical Christians, and Bush placed first in the caucuses. In New Hampshire, the competition stiffened, led by Senator John McCain of Arizona. His candidacy appealed to many moderate and independent voters, which outnumbered Bush’s more conservative supporters in the Granite State. McCain, a political maverick, touted new ideas for reform, in contrast to Bush whom he portrayed as part of the establishment. McCain defeated Bush in New Hampshire, forcing Bush to regroup, with his wife urging him never to allow someone else to define him again. Rather than blaming his staff, Bush took personal responsibility for the loss and told them that they would finish the race as a team. He was still confident in his candidacy. The focus then turned to South Carolina where the Bush campaign chose a new theme, “Reformer with Results,” in order to counter McCain by bringing attention to Bush’s bipartisan accomplishments as governor of Texas. The campaign shifted to expanding grassroots efforts and holding more town hall meetings.

Bush won the crucial southern state with 53 percent of the vote. The momentum gained in South Carolina, and his extensive grassroots efforts, carried him to victory in nine of thirteen primary states on Super Tuesday. Bush was able to ride this wave of support to the Republican nomination. As his primary victory became secure, Bush turned to the important task of finding a running mate. He sent his campaign manager, Joe Allbaugh, to Dallas for a meeting with his father’s old friend and former secretary of defense, Dick Cheney. Allbaugh’s task was to determine if Cheney was interested in being a candidate for vice president, and, if not, whether he was willing to find a running mate for Bush. Cheney passed on the vice presidency but offered to lead a search committee. Bush later wrote that he was seeking “someone with whom I was comfortable, someone willing to serve as part of a team, someone with the Washington experience that I lacked, and most important, someone prepared to serve as President at any moment.” By early summer, Bush had a list of finalists, but his sights were still set on Cheney. He decided to make another try for the elder statesman, who finally agreed to serve.

Cheney brought little, if any, political benefit to the Bush campaign because Cheney’s home state of Wyoming only cast three Electoral College votes and consistently voted Republican anyway. Bush’s top campaign staffers, including Karl Rove, opposed the Cheney choice. Bush, however, saw the value of having a veteran Washington insider and experienced politician by his side. The 2000 Republican National Convention was held in Philadelphia, where Bush delivered a stirring speech that reflected his reasons for pursuing the presidency: “Our opportunities are too great, our lives too short to waste this moment. So tonight, we vow to our nation…we will seize this moment of American promise. We will use these good times for great goals. …This [Clinton-Gore] administration had its moment. They had their chance. They have not led. We will.” Two months after the convention, Bush entered his first debate with Democratic nominee, Vice President Al Gore. Like Bush, Gore hailed from a family with a history of political involvement and had an Ivy League pedigree. In addition to his service as vice president during Clinton’s two terms, Gore, a former U.S. senator, was also an experienced debater.

The high expectations for Gore helped Bush; as long as Bush did not commit any major mistakes, he would surpass the public’s expectations for him. Moderated by PBS’s veteran anchorman Jim Lehrer, the first debate between Bush and Gore took place in Boston. Bush made a consistent effort to paint Gore as a Washington, D.C., insider who made big promises and showed few results; Gore attempted to portray Bush as a friend of the rich with little experience in governing, especially at the federal level. Neither candidate committed any major gaffes, and both hewed to their prepared scripts. Inexplicably, Gore audibly sighed at several of Bush’s responses. Violating the debate rules, the vice president frequently interrupted his opponent. Gore’s tactics seemed over-eager and unprofessional. The second and third debates went smoothly, without major gaffes from either candidate. Polls suggested that Bush benefitted more from the televised debates, showing that voters felt better about a Bush presidency than a Gore administration. Governor Bush felt optimistic about his chances before adviser and confidant Karen Hughes approached him five days before the election with news that a reporter had discovered a drunk driving citation Bush had received years ago.

Bush had considered disclosing the DUI earlier in his political career but decided against it because, as he claimed, he did not want his daughters to know about his irresponsible behavior. “Not disclosing the DUI on my terms may have been the single costliest political mistake I ever made,” Bush later wrote. Laura called their daughters to inform them of the announcement before they found out from television news. Bush issued a pithy statement: “I was pulled over. I admitted to the policeman that I had been drinking. I paid a fine. And I regret that it happened. But it did. I’ve learned my lesson.” Bush worried that he might have cost himself the presidency. Karl Rove estimated that approximately three million people, especially evangelical Christians, stayed home or changed their vote following the disclosure. During the five days following the announcement, Bush lost the four-point lead he had held in the polls. He campaigned hard for the last week and entered election day with the race too close to call. On election night, the major news networks initially called the key battleground states of Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Florida for Gore. Florida’s polls had not even closed, and Karl Rove adamantly maintained that the early call was flawed.

At about 10 p.m., Eastern Time, CNN and CBS rescinded their early call of Florida, and at about 2:15 a.m., the networks revised their call of the race in Florida in favor of Bush. Shortly after the Florida switch, Gore phoned Bush to concede. Gore had about fifteen minutes to address his supporters before Bush would speak to the crowd waiting outside the state capitol in Austin, Texas. The allotted time passed without a concession speech from Gore. Bush’s brother, Governor Jeb Bush of Florida, checked the networks to find that the margin in Florida was narrowing once again. Subsequently, Bush spoke with Gore again via phone, and in a terse conversation, Gore told Bush that he was retracting his concession as the numbers in Florida kept changing. By 4:30 in the morning, the Bush campaign discovered that Gore had sent a team of lawyers to Florida to oversee a recount of the votes. Bush was advised to send an emissary as well and dispatched Washington powerhouse and former secretary of state, James Baker, a veteran of the Regan and Bush 41 administrations. Pending the election results, Bush returned home to his ranch in Crawford, Texas, where he avoided television coverage of the recount process.

He tried to relax, frequently taking long runs. After weeks of legal battles and recounts, the Florida Supreme Court ruled 4-3 in favor of Gore’s plea for a selective recount. Bush then appealed to the United States Supreme Court. On December 12, the high court ruled in Bush v. Gore. By a vote of 7-2, they found that Florida’s inconsistent recount process violated the equal protection clause of the Constitution’s 14th amendment. By a 5-4 decision, the Court ruled that there was no fair way to recount the votes in Florida in time for the state’s votes to be counted in the Electoral College. The election results would stand. By just a few hundred votes, Bush had won Florida and with it the presidency. He had wanted to share the victory in Austin with his 20,000 supporters waiting on election night, but, as he wrote, he “probably became the first person to learn he had won the presidency while lying in bed with his wife watching TV.” The national spectacle of the Florida recounts, with its disputed ballots, “hanging chads,” and determinative Supreme Court ruling, undermined Bush’s wish to start his presidency with a strongly united nation.

While he won an Electoral College victory 271 to 266, Gore won 500,000 more popular votes from the American people than the victor. Many considered Bush’s election to be illegitimate, and the Congressional Black Caucus even protested during the official counting of the ballots on the floor of the House of Representatives. It was a less than auspicious start for any new presidency. The Reelection Race of 2004 Four years later, Bush faced U.S. Senator John Kerry, a Democrat from Massachusetts. A decorated Vietnam War veteran who had seen combat as a swift boat captain, Kerry became a leader of the anti-war movement once he left the Navy. Bush focused on Kerry’s liberal voting record in the Senate, including a vote against an $87-billion bill to fund the war on terror. Bush chose to highlight this choice in his ads, leading Kerry to respond, “I actually did vote for the $87 billion before I voted against it.” Bush saw the opportunity to attack Kerry as a flip-flopper. Kerry, on the other hand, attacked Bush as an unqualified commander in chief, who tricked the American people into an ill-conceived and unpopular war in Iraq.

He pledged to the Democratic National Convention and a national televised audience that he would “be a commander in chief who will never mislead us into war.” To drive the image home, he highlighted his wartime experience in Vietnam, saluting and declaring that he was “reporting for duty,” a line that garnered much popular criticism. Bush experienced a Vietnam-era controversy of his own during the 2004 campaign when CBS reporter Dan Rather aired allegations that Bush did not fulfill his duties in the Texas Air National Guard, which later proved to be based on false reports and forged documents. Along with making a strong case against a John Kerry presidency, Bush focused his campaign on showing that he could continue to lead the nation on major issues. For his second term, he pledged “to modernize Social Security, reform the immigration system, and overhaul the tax code, while continuing No Child Left Behind and the faith-based initiative, implementing Medicare reform, and above all, fighting the war on terror.” The two candidates debated three times during the fall campaign. Kerry was aggressive, particularly in the first debate, which caught Bush by surprise. Networks showed split screen images of Bush reacting to Kerry’s charges in that first debate, and the President appeared arrogant and disdainful.

Bush corrected his expressions in the next two debates, while Kerry committed a major gaffe on a question about homosexuality when he cited the fact that Vice President Cheney’s daughter is a lesbian. Critics derided Kerry for gratuitously dragging the vice president’s family into the campaign. Election day started with a shockwave through the campaigns and the media. According to exit polls, the President was doing poorly, even in strong Republican states such as Mississippi and South Carolina. Although they could not yet share their findings publicly, it was clear the media were bracing for a major upset. Bush’s chief strategist, Karl Rove, however, was convinced the methodology of the exit polls had to be wrong and, in the end, he was correct. The election would come down to the swing states of Iowa, New Mexico, Nevada, and Ohio. Though they were close, the Bush team became convinced they had won all four and, with them, the presidency. At about four in the morning, however, rumors began circulating that Kerry and Edwards would file a lawsuit over the results in Ohio. Provisional ballots had not been counted in the state by the end of election night, leaving the results in some doubt.

Consequently, Bush chose not to declare victory and again denied his supporters, gathered near the White House, a chance to celebrate. Bush sent Chief of Staff Andy Card to explain: “President Bush decided to give Senator Kerry the respect of more time to reflect on the results of this election. We are convinced that President Bush has won reelection with at least 286 electoral votes.” Kerry called the next morning to concede. In the end, Bush won 286 Electoral College votes to Kerry’s 251, along with 50.73 percent of the popular vote. Having lost the popular vote in 2000, this majority, bare though it was, added some popular legitimacy to the Bush presidency and gave him confidence he had could focus on his domestic policy goals. Bush declared that he had earned political capital from the campaign and now he intended to spend it. His hopes, however, were soon dashed. The Iraq War grew more unpopular as the insurgency escalated and American causalities continued to mount. The government’s seemingly inept reaction to the decimation caused by 2005’s Hurricane Katrina, the costliest natural disaster in U.S. history, further detracted from the President’s popularity.

A series of scandals involving Republican politicians also undermined the party’s support. The 2006 midterm elections were a disaster for President Bush and his party as they lost control of both houses of Congress and a majority of governorships across the nation. Bush’s legislative agenda never recovered. George W. Bush Essays Citation Information Chicago Style Miller Center of Public Affairs, University of Virginia. “George W. Bush: Campaigns and Elections.” Accessed January 20, 2017. ­/president/biography/gwbush-campaigns-and-elections. Consulting Editor Gary L. Gregg II Professor Gregg is the director of the McConnell Center at the University of Louisville. He also holds the Mitch McConnell Chair in leadership. His writings include: Considering the Bush Presidency. (with Mark J. Rozell, Oxford University Press, 2004) Thinking about the Presidency: Documents and Essays from the Founding to the Present. (Rowman & Littlefield, 2005) Securing Democracy: Why We Have an Electoral College (2nd ed.). (ISI Books, 2008) America's Forgotten Founders (2nd ed.). (with Mark D.

Hall, ISI Books, 2012) The consulting editor wishes to thank Connor Tracy and Travis Wilson for serving as research assistants on this project.

Question: Who was George W Bush's opponent in the 2004 US Presidential election?
Answer: John Kerry